In this sermon, Pastor Babij continues in 2 Peter 1:5 elaborating on the second foundational quality of holy living to develop: knowledge. Christians are not to check their minds at the door but use the intellect God has given them to grow in righteous zeal for Him.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
let’s take our Bibles in turn choose second Peter you’ve been looking at the believers responsibility for godly living and if you are using your pew Bible it’s on page 1215 2nd Peter again I already read verse 1 through 5 it says Simon Peter a bondservant an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours by a righteousness by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust now for this very reason also applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge let’s pray father thank you for the privilege to have the Word of God in our hands to be able to look at it read it think about it carry it with us where we go read it wherever we are listen to it Lord in the preaching of the word there’s so many privileges that we take for granted I pray we wouldn’t take for granted of these things they may not be there tomorrow but your word would be there so embedded in our heart so we don’t forget it so we know what it says so we know what we’re supposed to do and I pray Lord as we step out every day to live this in this world I prayed that we’d grow more and more in Christ’s likeness for we know Lord that’s the spirit of God’s goal and that you that’s what you want us to cooperate with you’ve given us everything to do that so now Lord allow us to do it in Christ I pray amen so the Christians participation in the divine nature I have already said gives the believer a new ability to resist sin through union with Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit and which also gives a desire to weaken the flesh and then of course a greater desire to obey the spirit and please Christ and have the Spirit of God in a strengthened so our life the pattern of our life will be that of godliness and holiness so Christians as they grow in holiness being separated more and more unto God is another way of saying it see clearly that their need to separate themselves from the moral corruption that is so much a part of our fallen world and at the same time recognize in their life there are certain distractions that need to be removed that are not sinful there are certain things that do not profit us spiritually or cause maturity as a believer those two need to be put off from us and they may be different from every other person so God restores us in salvation he makes us spiritually alive in salvation here eek he’s recreating in us after he’s recreated us in the image of the perfect man the Lord Jesus Christ and so each Lord’s day at least the last several ones the admonition has been and will be to use the power that God has given us that he’s made available to to grow and godliness we saw in verse three and for what God has done and now we are as Christians we are to do what God says to do and of course that is to grow in these qualities that are listed here in this passage of Scripture so discipline I’ve mentioned is the secret of godliness and God intends for his children to be godly that is his goal for us that should be our goal for ourselves and that means each day a godly person leads his life that reflects what God is doing in that life and a godly person is really growing in their desire to please God in their thinking and what they’re thinking about in their speaking and how they’re speaking to other people and they’re doing what what are they actually doing what are you doing in your private time as well as in your public time it should be quite the same and what are you in your being what is God creating in your being who are you who are you 24/7 and then also your feelings are your feelings being directed by truth or they are they being directly directed by the whims of the world and by some information that you received on a particular day see we must add to what God has already given us we must increase in it we must proceed to grow in it and we know as we do that as we add to our faith then that is what’s going to give us stability in our life there is an ethical list of virtues listed in our passage and of course these virtues are to be lived out by the Christian that constitutes ultimately what a godly life looks like so this is what Christians are to do and this is what they are enabled by the Spirit of God to do and this is what we are to discipline ourselves to do we are to add to we are to supplement our faith in verse number five it says there we are in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge so I’m going to kind of park on knowledge this morning that we Christians are too lavishly supply to our Christian faith all the virtues until they culminate in love which was is the last one there so your faith is a living faith it’s an active faith it’s an energetic faith and we are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit of God adding to our faith what is found in this passage of Scripture and I’m from last week I wanted you to notice that we’re not left to guess what we’re to add to our faith were actually given it to us right here in Scripture there are seven qualities to work out in every avenue and compartment of your life and they are not to be worked on as a one at a time deal but actually think about it as they you are growing in all of them all at the same time and what are they well the fact the first five of them appear to be characteristics that grow out of our relationship with God moral excellence knowledge self-control perseverance and godliness and then the last to represent our relationship to his and of course and people’s our fellow man people that we interact with and of course that would be brotherly kindness and love so today we’re to add to our faith knowledge now I read this article once where a food processing marketed a cake mix to the public and of course in this cake mixed it required that the housewife or whoever’s making the cake would only add water and it would be a fine cake the company did not understand however when they put it on the market it did not sell at all and they wondered why and they found out people felt uneasy about the mix that required only water so it seemed too simple to them and so what they did is they put out a new product the same product but on the label they put just add one egg and the product took off and everybody bought it see they just had to add that one thing and it made the product sell well this morning I want you to look at and think about what the Bible says here in verse number five that were to add to that were to supplement our faith with knowledge now of these seven qualities we are a grow in two that are foundational qualities and five our directional qualities this Lord’s Day I want to look at the second of the two foundational qualities scripture calls us to bring every effort to bear upon the process of cultivating our spiritual growth and that is to increase the image of Christ in our Christian character and these are qualities that help to form that image in us so these qualities already deserve our utmost effort the first one I’ve already mentioned last week and that was the quality of moral excellence of course a simple way to say that is to supplement your faith with goodness the quality of goodness is demonstrated in our living in our good habits that we form as a believer and as fleshly desires that we had being discarded and put away from us so we are to be people who are to be honorable in our behavior not just the absence of bad habits but to pursuit of what is morally right what is helpful and good in our relationships with each other so moral excellence one has said is the state of the achieved whereby the soul the inner man operates on the level of goodness so Christians are able to live out this virtuous life not because of our own efforts alone but because of Christ’s life within us and that’s really the difference between an unbeliever and a believer is the life of God is in us the Spirit of God is in us and so we have all we have to do is look around us and we see the handiwork of God’s providential goodness all around us in his creation in his special revelation the Word of God so all that emanates from God has decrees his creation his laws his Providence cannot be otherwise than good because God is good and because God is good we can actually live out that characteristic that now is stamped upon our soul in our daily life and of course what defines goodness I mentioned that last week is the Word of God and the character of God so when when we learned goodness we learned goodness really by keeping our eyes on Jesus who who he is and what he has done how he acts in the Word of God how he acts in the Gospels this is one thing about goodness that is always true and it’s this you can’t exhaust being good just think of that for have you ever heard anyone would anyone ever say with her with the right mind stop being so good to me no nobody would say that right we like when we’re being treated well and good we like that right we should be doing that with other people why because we’re Christians right and we want to treat people and reflect the goodness of God to them I don’t never heard anybody say stop being good to me I can’t take it have you I don’t think if you have I want to talk to you all right I want to tell me your story but I’ve never heard it see goodness is controlled by the second foundational quality and its knowledge notice in verse five in your face supply moral excellence and neuro moral excellence knowledge see knowledge is in reference to the intellectual part of the human personality that knowledge actually is used some 16 times and what we need more than anything else is to have an accurate knowledge about matters of life and death about how to be right with God and how to tell other people how to be right with God about eternity and of course entrance into the kingdom of God if you look at verse number 11 of chapter one it says this for in this way that the entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you in other words if you add to your faith these qualities entrance into the kingdom of God will be abundantly supplied in other words you’ll no have no problem walking the narrow road to be welcomed into the kingdom of God because that’s what God is doing he’s making us ready for him the only way anyone can reach the final destination is to get real knowledge that is based on what is true and what is right in this epistle in this the Greek language that is used in the original Peter actually uses two different Greek words to translate our English word knowledge one is epignosis which means full knowledge or what comes to know what we come to know and appropriate through faith in Christ and that would be called the true knowledge – because we didn’t have that knowledge we weren’t born with that knowledge that is the knowledge that only comes when one believes in Jesus Christ and then now the Lord opens it up to us he opens up everything to us about what is really true especially what is true about him and what he’s doing and how one becomes a believer there’s a second word though he uses and this is the one that probably more more defines the word knowledge we’re using this morning is that it’s a knowledge that is is not necessarily well-known it’s a knowledge that we grow in it’s a knowledge of how do I have good sense in my life how can I have a greater understanding in a particular on a particular subject how can I have greater insight to help somebody or wisdom another way of looking at it is wisdom it means knowledge that is not necessarily complete yet got it you’re growing in it I don’t have all the answers and it matter of fact we may not get all the answers to all the questions we have on this side of eternity most likely we will not but we are to be growing in this knowledge it is a growing knowledge scripture is saying to keep stimulating those intellectual appetites that God has given you in conversion and don’t check your brains at the door don’t do that don’t check out intellectually and a lot of times in Christianity today there is a there is they’re they’re not checking the box about I need to know more it’s more about a moding it’s more about emotionalism now evangelism is driven by music instead of knowledge musics not going to bring you to Christ it’s not even going to make you more sanctified no matter how great it is only thing’s gonna sanctify you is the truth that’s what Jesus says the truth will sanctify you it is the truth that is given to us so knowledge definitely includes knowledge of Christ but it also includes wisdom and discernment that the Christian needs to grow in the the various different things in Scripture that where when we get a greater knowledge of Scripture it leads to practical action I know how to not just know it I know how to do it I’m not just to hear the word but I am actually a doer of the word now the fact of the term being used by Peter actually it’s a repeated refrain in 2nd Peter if you look at verse number 2 of chapter 1 it says grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God in Jesus our Lord look at verse 3 seeing that his divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence look at verse number 8 of chapter 1 for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they render you neither useless or unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ look at chapter 2 verse 24 if after they have escaped the defilement of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled in them and overcome the last state has become worse for them than the first and then look at the last verse of 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 18 the last verse it says but grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and to the day of eternity amen so in other words the Bible is very clear in 2nd Peter that knowledge is really important for you to be growing in the Lord you cannot bypass your mind to become spiritually minded you cannot lay aside your brains and think that if you lay on your pillow and put your Bible underneath it somehow it’s going to migrate into your brain and solan and give you what you need no you have to put the effort in alright we’re adding to our faith we’re putting ourselves there we’re listening really listening to the Word of God when it’s being preached when we’re reading the Word of God we’re not thinking about something else and yet our eyes are going through the world and then we when we get down and say well what did that really say see are we engaging in it in a way where our mind is in gear so the scripture is stressing and imperative for living life well it’s this if we are going to finish this life well we must know God – faith in Christ let us add a praiseworthy life and then let us add knowledge so in other words we must get to working on knowing God now he’s talking to Christians here it’s not talking to people who who are in the world who are secular who are religious he’s talking to believers he’s saying that you don’t know God enough that’s your problem your problem is not three things you didn’t do here or three things to have a good marriage or three things would be a better beautiful Christian no that’s not it you and I need to know God that’s the problem that’s all our problems because once we know God and are growing in our knowledge of him true knowledge of God we will be stable we will be will won’t be like that Reed broke blowing through being blown left and right and by every wind of doctrine we will be stable like an oak tree because we are our roots are deep in what the Bible teaches about who God is so knowing Christ and God’s will enables us to live for him so like I had been using the weightlifter as a an example the weightlifter who who takes his knowledge of his sport and goes into the gym with exercises that target building particulars the chest he does the chest he does the upper chest in the lower chest he does the arms he has exercises for biceps for triceps for forearms he builds his shoulders so they’re big he builds his back and laterals his legs and his calves all the body parts have different exercises that go with it so he or she becomes an athlete who effectively implements each exercise to achieve results I want to see a bigger biceps I want to heat I’m going to see stronger legs I want to direct mo those exercise to make those things happen but I have to put the work in I have to put the effort in but if the weightlifter does not produce practical action which leads to results well one would have to conclude it’s useless it is fruitless behavior if you’re going to workout and then every day stop at McDonald’s to have the big soda and the hamburger and all the stuff that goes with it you’re defeating your purpose right yeah all of it goes together and what but that comes from knowledge it comes from knowing exactly what to do it’s in a similar way in this in the spiritual realm if practical action does not lead to producing God’s character in us the character of Jesus in us it could actually be worse than useless it can blind us as one person said to our true sorry state if you notice in verse number 9 of chapter 1 Peter is actually going to teach us this when we get there notice what it says it says for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted having forgotten his purification from his former sins see in other words if I don’t do if these things are not being added to my faith into your faith we are actually people that kind of have our head in this and we don’t even see we’re short-sighted we can’t even see what we ought to do we were oh I don’t know what to do that’s not should be not that should not be the case for a believer and to me that doesn’t sound like a good place for a Christian to be who’s called by God it sounds like a very uncertain position to be in as a Christian it sounds like it could even challenge the whole credibility of a Christians profession of faith if they are blind and short-sighted to the things that God wants them to do see God places no premium on ignorant in Scripture or we wouldn’t have the Bible that we have it takes study to understand the Bible and it takes years of study and meditating and listening and we’re always constantly growing we’re never in a stagnant state as believers so God doesn’t produce he doesn’t place any premium on ignorance he actually expects us to expand our mental horizons constantly and there is enough unexpected or unexplored may I say truth in the Bible to occupy our thoughts for all eternity it’ll take a long time and it does take a long time to grasp all the inexhaustible truths of the Word of God sometimes we may think that we have arrived because we’ve been in the faith for a long time we’ve arrived at knowing a significant amount of knowledge about God and then we discover we’re quite deficient in our knowledge about God that we we don’t actually know enough about God you think that you have arrived at some point in your life and then you discovered so much more is to be learned about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ even our intellectual community who investigates and studies our universe has not even touched the hem of the garment of the vastness and the complexity of our universe in our world that we live in they’re just touching it even the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 11 when he was giving us good and sound theology he realized at the end of that when God was what would what God was gonna do in the future he did not even plan on what God was going to tell him teach him and this is what he says he says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways who has known the mind of God who has become his counselor or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again and then Paul says this for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever and ever amen in other words Paul says as soon as I thought I had God figured out he took a left turn and I had to follow him to find out what was next and that’s how it always has to be us as human finite beings we’ll never figure out everything about God we just won’t do it so that means that I must put a premium on learning more about him so this Paul even tells us in the Word of God we surely don’t want to be like the Jews in Scripture who thought they were in God’s family and yet this is what it says in Scripture brethren my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for you for them is that for their salvation wait a minute they thought they were saved and then he says this for I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge and then it says this for not knowing about God’s righteous this and seeking to establish their own righteousness they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God and if you don’t subject subject yourself to the righteousness of God your righteousness cannot save you right that’s what the Jews didn’t get of course some of them got it because they believed the gospel and that’s a lot of the things that we don’t get that’s why people say well how do you know that how if God were to say to you why should I let you lose my heaven what would you say to a wall I’m a good person I I do good works I’m religious wrong wrong answers the only way anyone gets to heaven is God’s righteousness that is stamped upon us and is received not by works but by faith right that’s what it says in Scripture you know how many people miss that who are religious their whole life go to church two three times a week that’s not going to save you you have to believe the righteousness of Christ that when I believe in what Christ has done on the cross he takes my sin and nails it to the cross and he takes his righteousness and puts it on my account by faith not by works there’s nothing I could do you could do anyone could do to obtain that Christ did it for us on the cross and that’s what I believe and then he gives us a spirit if you missed that you realize you’re heading on the road to hell so what does Paul do he says that they had a zeal without knowledge but we need both Christians Christians have a god-given responsibility to use our minds and not check our brains at the door we need both zeal and knowledge together scriptural knowledge right not our own now this is about any old knowledge this is God’s knowledge see Paul also prayed and just take your Bible and turn there he also prayed in Ephesians back I mean you’re turning forward to colossians philippians ephesians he said in ephesians he actually prayed in ephesians that all Christians would know God he si uses the same word to mean insider knowledge that they would have insight about God they would have knowledge about God and notice what it says in ephesians chapter 1 verse 17 that the god of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of Revelation in the knowledge of him that’s Christ verse 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints he is basically saying praying for them that the believers there at Ephesus would know God wait I thought they do know him they do know him by way of salvation but they don’t know enough about him for their daily life in daily living and we need to know that so this is not knowing a number of things about God like God is great and God is mighty and God is majestic we need to know those things about God because the demons have knowledge of the greatness and the might and the majesty of God and where does it leave the demons it says in James it leads them to trembling and to shuddering and fear where it says in James 2:19 you believe that God is one you do well the demons also believe and shudder they tremble why they know the power of God because demons are just created angels that fell in their pride right that’s all they are and so they are they know they’re gonna be responsible to God in fact God is holding them in judgment right now to those who rebelled against them and were sent out of his presence he’s holding those who were in right now in judgment in hell until the last day of judgment now there are some demons that of course that are not bound they’re free but they’re doing wrecking havock and you know what they’re trying to do the most is keep you from the knowledge of God if they can do that they will do that and they’re good at doing it all right so if you can be distracted for away from God in with good things he will provide it for you good not sinful things good things wholesome things right and what happens is that you seem to go overboard with it and spend so much time like just for example Facebook how many hours can you spend behind your computer on Facebook you don’t realize sometimes it’s hours that you spend behind the screen looking up little details about other people’s lives I wonder how this person is doing that person is doing right that’s you that’s what you do but you know what you’re distracted and you’ve got time robbed from you because curiosity kicked in and you wanted to know more and more and you spend more and more time on it and then you have more and more followers and more and more people to look up and then before you know it you’re spending a chunk of time on Facebook and it’s distracting to you and it is not contributing to your spiritual growth at all see those are some things that you and I as Christians need to put aside because you do you know that one could have an interest in theology they can read many Christian books on theology and apologetics and a variety of Christian subjects and one may have even a good grasp and knowledge of church history one may also have learned to find their way around Scripture quite efficiently they may even lead a Bible study listen to tons of sermons cuz you can do that today a write of some of the Gress greatest and best preachers out there they can read christian blogs til it’s coming out of their ears and all that maybe that is you’re just getting a bunch of knowledge about God but I tell you what a person can know about God and yet not know God you realize that right because not knowing God is the is the problem it doesn’t mean that we can’t pass a test on facts about the Bible that’s not that doesn’t prove anything that maybe you’re a good person you can memorize things no we need to know who God is and so that means that some of the things that we’re putting into our head we’re flooding our head with so much stuff we can’t land on one thing about God because we have too much stuff going on in there so the prayer here in Ephesians is for the Saints to have a true knowledge of God that is personal that is intimate knowledge where God is real to them and to us and we are conscious of his presence to know a person means something beyond a casual acquaintance knowledge means an intimate personal special knowledge of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ like it says in in Corinthians for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ so there’s really several reasons why we need to use our minds at least for reasons you didn’t know you didn’t know all that was in that word knowledge in verse five did you the first reason why we we need to use our minds is because we are created to think were created in the image of God in other words we are to participate in the divine nature and this divine likeness in man is in his capacity and her capacity to think we see God’s God communicates with man in a way he does not communicate with animals he expects men he expects humanity to cooperate with him to cooperate with him consciously and also intellectually man men are called to think and respond until in the garden God told Adam after he placed him in the garden Adam was to discriminate rationally as well as morally between what he is permitted to do and the one thing he was prohibited to do Adam everything is yours see this tree the tree of knowledge of good and evil you stay away from it and that’s mine that’s what he told Adam right and Adam had to make the choice of to obey her or not obey and he was given that ability by God so since man is different from animals should we not behave differently psalm 32 verse 9 says this do not be the horse or the mule which has no understanding don’t be like them however sometimes God’s people don’t obey as well as the animals do right well look if you look at of the prophet Isaiah right in chapter 1 go right into the Old Testament you’ll find that right after proverbs not too far you’ll find Isaiah but Isaiah the prophet in chapter 1 tells us this in verse number 3 and for an ox knows its owner and a donkey it’s masters manger but Israel does not know my people do not understand and then it says the last sinful nation people weighed down with a negati iniquity offspring of evildoers sons who act corruptly and then in the end of the verse they have abandoned the Lord they have despised the Holy One of Israel they have turned away from him so what is it saying there is that the animals have a better understanding of who God is and respond to God and no beating way and Israel doesn’t even know me and they’re supposed to be my people and why don’t they know we know me because they don’t have any knowledge they somehow given that up they thought maybe they’ve arrived and without turning back there just keep your hand right there in Isaiah back in 2nd Peter this is what it says about the false teachers in chapter 2 in verse number 12 of 2nd Peter it says but these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed reviling where they have no knowledge will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong they counted pleasure to revel in the daytime they are stains and blemishes reveling in their deception as they corrals with you having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin enticing unstable souls having a heart trained in greed accursed children he’s saying they’re just like the animals they act just like the animals just look at their life they’re acting just like they don’t know me if you know me that wouldn’t be going on if you know me your life would be different your behavior would be different your thinking would be different everything would be different because you know me and the false teachers say they know God but by their deeds they deny him they really don’t know who God is in fact if you’re right they’re still in our Zeya look down chapter 1 verse number 18 and 20 because I Isaiah actually communicates through this rebellious people of Israel to come and think about what the Lord is saying because because there are consequences when you disobey look at verse number 18 it says come now let us reason together doesn’t that doesn’t that assume thinking says the Lord though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be like wool if you consent and obey you will eat the best of the land verse 20 and if you refuse and rebel you will be devoured by the sword truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken he’s talking to these rebellious people and he says listen because you cast off knowledge this is going to be the result because the results going to be disobedience and disobedience has its implications so the first reason we already use our mind is because because of creation because we are to think second goes along with that and it’s we are created to think God’s thoughts we are created to think about God Christianity is a revealed religion it is not a mystical religion it is a religion based on facts and truth and factual history and real people that God really did create the heaven in the earth he really did speak it into existence he really did when you read the Old Testament talked to these men and used these men of old he did communicate with them so see we have a revealed religion God speaks to us through the created universe some chapter 19 if you’re familiar with that so I’m probably one of the most famous Psalms when it comes to general revelation where it says in Psalm 19 verse 1 through 4 the heavens are telling the glory of God and their expanses declaring the works of his hands day to day pour forth speech and night tonight reveals knowledge when we look out at creation is it telling us it’s telling us listen there’s a god out there who has knowledge who has order who has placed everything right where it’s supposed to be at the distances they’re supposed to be at the everything is where it ought to be because God put it there and spoke it there and until and he holds it together and until he decides to step back and let it all fall apart which second Peter is going to address it’s gonna remain steadfast and reliable tomorrow I would pretty much say you’re gonna wake up and you’re gonna see the Sun Rise it’s gonna be daytime and the sun’s gonna set and you’re gonna see night I can you can bank on that I can bank on that right now but someday when Christ comes back in judgment everything’s going to fall apart all right but isn’t that knowledge – that’s knowledge of what’s going to take place who has that knowledge except believers nobody has that knowledge unless you open up the Bible and study it read it and that gives us stability – no listen I’m not going to put all my eggs in the same basket and put everything my tent pegs down too deep in this earth because I’m just passing through I’m a sojourner and I’m heading home I’m having to head into the kingdom of God so that knowledge gives me the ability to know it’s not the end death is not the end death is a doorway into the presence of God for those who know Christ right and the death is also a doorway because everybody will be raised from the dead one to a judgment of righteousness and a one to a judgment of wicked or damnation and so either way people are going to be raised from the dead but for a Christian they know for sure that when they die they will go to heaven a lot based on truth in the Word of God not just based on some mystical and that thing they heard from from somebody or some platitude that was was was given to them by some religious system now this is truth this is God is behind saying this that means it’s reliable 100 ten uh it’s a reliable a thousand percent right I can trust God because it says in Titus 1 God can’t lie to us God won’t lie to us his very character will not him allow him to lie to us so see God wants us to think God thoughts in fact creation also is mentioned in Romans chapter 1 where it says in Romans chapter 1 verse number 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them he’s talking about people for God made it evident to them now let’s now just think about that for a moment the Bible is saying listen what God made himself evident to everyone well we can’t even disagree with that from the scripture because it says God made it evident within them he’s already put it in inside of everybody they’re just suppressing that knowledge they’re holding it down or they’re confusing it with other things and believing other things it says for God made it evidence then verse 20 of Romans 1 for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen they’re not cloudy they’re clearly seen being understood through what was what has been made so that we are without excuse everybody’s with that excuse and that’s just creation that’s not even special revelation the Bible right God has also given us special revelation communication in words communication in the written word that we can actually it can it’s locked up in history do you know that in the Old Testament written in Hebrew and Aramaic it’s a language that is dead that means there’s no new vocabulary being added to that language that means it cannot increase or decrease and understand of what it says and then in the New Testament Koine Greek is the same way God rendered it dead it’s a dead language it’s not spoken anywhere all the vocabulary is locked up so that means God what God has done that because now the Word of God remains stable steadfast in Aaron with without error and fully trustworthy for all who read it and study it they will find in it the way of salvation that’s what they will do they will find in it the way of salvation so God communicates in words he has revealed words to our mind and our duty is to receive the message to submit to the message to seek to understand the message and to relate it to the world in which we live one of the highest and noblest functions of man’s mind is to listen to God’s Word the very fact that we have ears to hear is so that we would ultimately hear the Word of God going into our ear and into our mind so we can understand who he is and what he requires us of us if we fail to use our minds than we actually descend to the level of animals and the Lord pointed out to the Prophet Hosea that is people’s main problem was they were lacking something listen what it says without turning there in Hosea chapter 4 verse 1 it says listen to the word of the Lord o sons of Israel for the Lord has a case against the habitants of the Lamb because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land and then he says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge because they have rejected knowledge so why is it that we live in a day of mass media and all kinds of information at our fingertips and plenty available biblical knowledge and yet we suffer from the same malady there’s no knowledge of God if there is it’s very little and the knowledge that has been given is rejected or reinterpreted no knowledge of God land that’s the greatest judgment a nation could ever have and for the church it’s a lack of thinking it’s a lack of meditating on the knowledge of God and there’s one other thing that we are created we are created to have a renewed mind Romans chapter 12 verse number 2 the renewed mind what is the renewed mind the renewed mind is now subject and open to divine truth not just secular truth it says in Romans 12 chapter 12 verse 2 but be transformed in the renewing of your mind that is to assume an outward expression that reflects what is deep within and this process takes place in our minds for it is our thought life that controls our attitudes and our feelings and our actions and we are to let our lives be changed from the inside out and brethren how much our minds were opposed to God before we became believers john calvin says indeed nothing can be more true that the renewal of the mind is necessary for successful inquiry to every part of the will of God the natural man is in every thing opposed to the mind of God and that’s what we were before Christ we thought we were on board with God and religious but we find out when we become believers that we were opposed to God because we were reinterpreting things in our own mind when we came to the scripture we says well that’s not what it is at all so here’s a renewal of a believers mental powers in Romans chapter 12 our whole body life is to be evidence by a constant inner metamorphosis which is actually the very Greek word used there it means to be changed in form to be transformed to be changed in character so the Holy Spirit of God wants to each the likeness of Jesus Christ on our character that’s what he wants to do are we cooperating with that that’s the thing he does it by the Word of God and he does it for what reason so we test out the will of God and that’s why it says in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 that you may prove what the will of God is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God that the renewed mind is bent it’s bent on finding out and following God’s will and that is the revealed will of God not the secret will of God the secret will of God is up to God we can’t figure that out but the the prescriptive will of God found in the Word of God we can find out because it’s right here in the world of God so the Christian is is the one who should be asking some questions when they are studying the word when they are evaluating their own life and and the question should be is how do I actually test out the will of God well it could be questions like this is the thing is the thing that I’m getting involved with really good for me and is it glorifying and pleasing to my lord if you answered no then it’s done or is it well pleasing to God as far as my attitude is my attitude in this situation pleasing to God are my thoughts about God and other people pleasing to the Lord are my feelings what’s going on in my feelings am I filled with the feelings of anger and bitterness and resentment I know that’s not pleasing to the Lord so I have to deal with that that’s not God’s will for me that’s the flesh taking over that rebel voice inside of us saying your have every right to act like that because of what they did to you and said to you know we have every right to act like God wants us to act and God’s given us the power to act in the right way oh yeah we fall on our face don’t think I’m not saying that we’re perfect then there were circumstances we fall on our face we sin but what do we do if we sin we get up we identify the sin we confess the sin we know in 1st John 1 7 through 9 that he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so we get back up start walking in the light because God’s in the light and keep going right that’s what we do why that’s what pleases God that’s what’s right for us that we can even ask – is it complete in and of itself is it something that will bring about Christ’s likeness it is it’s something that will enhance my spiritual maturity or will this thing good or bad hinder my Christian growth even like I said good things need to be lay aside because they’re distracting and they’re not profitable so the Word of God is really the criterion it is the measuring stick for knowing what is good well pleasing and advances maturity we discover from his word alone and we subject all our own conceptions to what is good for us what is pleasing to him and complete wholly being evaluated by the Word of God every test made without the Word of God is deceptive and wrong the renewed mind does not want to disregard God’s will the renewed mine wants to know it understand it and do it and then there’s one last thing the reason why we should think and it’s this judgment we are going to be judged by our knowledge God will judge us by our knowledge and by our response to his revealed truth it says this in John chapter 12 verse 48 he who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him the word the word I spoke is what will judge him on at the last day so God holds us responsible for the knowledge we have he made us thinking beings rational beings so that we are to make every effort to add to our faith to supplement our faith moral excellence and to the moral excellence knowledge it was J I Packer who wrote a book if you haven’t get a chance to read it a long time ago and his book was called knowing God and in that book he gave at least four propositions on what he discovered about people who know their God and he based it on really the life of Daniel in the Old Testament and he said the first thing was that people who know God have great energy for God secondly the people who know God have great thoughts of God thirdly the people who know God show great boldness for God and fourthly the people who know God have great contentment in God they are satisfied in the depth of her soul about everything that God has said and everything that God has done and will they are settled godliness with contentment is great gain not only for this life but for the life to come that’s what scripture says so here’s the bottom line the urgent need of the church is the knowledge of God we need to know God better if we are going to finish life well we must know God we must get to working on knowing God and we we must never stop our effort in knowing God and the more we know Christ the more we will reflect his glory the glory the Spirit of God imparts to the believer is more excellent and last longer than the the glory that Moses experienced when he was on the mountain came down with the Ten Commandments and the people could not even look at him because he was in the presence of God it was John Piper who said it well he said this God made us to magnify his greatness the way a telescope magnifies stars he created us to put his goodness his truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display before the world the greatest display of God’s glory comes from deep delight in who he is and when we do that be by beholding the nature of God with unveiled minds we can be more like him in the gospel we see the truth about Christ and it transforms us morally as we understand and apply it through Christ’s life we can understand how wonderful God is and what he is really like from the Gospels and as our knowledge deepens the Holy Spirit helps us change into that image becoming like Christ is a progressive experience it’s an ongoing growing experience and that’s what the very word knowledge here means and the more closely we follow Christ the more closely we follow Christ the more we will be like him amen let’s pray Lord again I just pray Lord that this would be something will cooperate with you every day of our life Lord that we would never be satisfied never be satisfied with what we know about you that our hunger and desire to know you more deeply to know you more profoundly to know you more intimately we’ll just become more intense as we live our life as we look around the world and see things fall apart Lord we cannot put our stock in men we cannot put our stock in philosophies or religious systems we must put it all upon you Lord and we thank you that we have this privilege given to us that we can actually know you and I pray Lord that that desire would just intensify for the sake of the glory of your great name and for the transformation of our mind and for the sanctification of the process the Spirit of God is carrying out in our life we want to give you all the praise and the glory and honor for all that you have and will do I pray in Christ’s name Amen